sammi needham : cogitate

I’ve always been a fan of Silverchair. Even when i was in a shitty highschool rock (dare i say ‘grunge’) band in grade 8, right in the thick of Seattle’s rise to power. I was insanely jealous of Silverchair’s immediate stardom, i cursed Daniel Johns’ blatent Cobain styling. Like every other 14 year old i despised his very name, but somewhere secretly wanted to *be* him more than i had ever wanted to be Batman or a Fireman. As i eventually came to terms with the fact that Silverchair did consist of pretty legitimate musicians that could more than string a decent tune together i learned to like them, quite a lot.

My first (and only) experience of Silverchair live was at the Hobart City Hall, they were playing as a support band to You Am I, and they were pretty average. Fresh off the release of their debut album Frogstomp, and in a venue with a sold out under-age section that was almost spilling over the balcony, they were reasonably underwhelming. Johns was spouting phrases in-between songs like “drink your water man, you need it to survive!”, whilst sipping on a beer that i had to get an elder to purchase for me after sneaking by security and into the licensed area downstairs, I was even embarrassed for him up there on stage. They played their tunes solidly that night, if not brilliantly, but their stage presence left a lot to be desired. Sure they were a lowly support act, but they were incredibly over-saturated on local and national radio and i think people expected a Niravana show. These were the days before Silverchair could command a headline gig, but still it was their night for half the audience, and sure enough after they played, the upstairs audience almost all departed for the beginning of You Am I’s set. I’m sure most people were happy, but i couldn’t look past their droll performace and awkward banter.

As ‘The Chair’ (and i) matured a bit, i started getting a fair bit more intereted in them, i had moved past jealousy, obviously admitting to myself that i was probably never going to be that rock star that i may have once though, and by the time that Daniel Johns was performing on tracks in the Spawn soundtrack, i was sold on his credibility. Since then, it’s been up and up. And then there was Diorama. I was pretty flabbergasted by that release, i thought that it was a masterwork. An iconnic release from day one. I couldn’t remember an aussie album that had ever been that considered. The making of and live DVD in the theatre in newcastle sealed the deal for me and i was pretty much sucking on any minute amount of tuneful wind from Daniel’s arse from then on. I self-pronounced him the closest thing that Australia has to Mike Patton, and in that i mean musical genious. An australian virtuoso, a modern day Beethoven (is that going too far?). I was eagerly awaiting anything new from Silverchair (The Dissociatives collaboration with Paul Mac did nothing but reinforce my utterly idiotic obsession with Johns’ genious, but that’s a nother story).

So now with Young Modern in stores and all over radio, you’d think i’d be the happiest man alive. It has hit with very mixed reactions from fans andd critics. But most good sources seem to think it’s their most mature release yet. Personally, I can’t work out if this is the follow-up masterpiece that i had been waiting for, or the combination of a few good ideas ripped-off in an unoriginal, yet likably over-complicated pop mashup. I know one thing for sure though, and that’s that i can’t stop listening to the fucking thing. I’ve had it on pretty high rotation in my ears since it’s March 31 release, which is only a little over a week, but i just can’t stop listening to the damn thing.

When i heard the single ‘Straight Lines’ for the first time, i liked it’s poppy-ness. I thought that it showed a good understanding of pop music, whilst also being executed in a knowingly epic way. A bit of a nod to the radio stations with a decidedly complicated Daniel Johns style to take it that step above for the fans to all look around on the train and nod to each other, like some secret hidden message that mere mortals could never comprehend. I was hoever hoping that it would be a bit of an anomoly on the album, and that the rest of the tracks would show a more mastiful, perhaps darker (albeit with a light, poppy face value), Dissociates-yet-rockier style. As i write this I still can’t work out if this is actually what i’m listening to or not.

There are tracks on this album that, at times, i can really lose myselff in, but then there are others that i almost can’t listen to. Like the final track ‘all accross the world’, it’s almost brilliant, it has a great sense of pace, but some of the melodies just seem a bit off. There are so many changes in that song that clash with each other that i just can’t listen to it without wanting to turn it off, or at least skip the the English Garden bonus track that is so much better. I don;t mind songs with lots of changes, I love Mr. Bungle to hell, but the way that Patton does that is just so much more comprehensive than Silverchair.

There are some great tracks on Young Modern, the opener is a worthy track and hangs together nicely, setting the tone for a great album, i like the vocal melodies and the double time hi-hats in the chorus, it’s almost rushing you into the rest of the album excitedly. Then Straight Lines doesn’t dissapoint in keeping that vibe up, whilst not really changing it too much. In fact the first half of the album rolls out reasonably nicely, but it doesn’t really feel like much of a rock album – but then maybe it’s not supposed to be. I love the medley in the middle of the album, ‘Those Theiving birds etc…’, i could listen to that all day, but then things go a bit odd. It seems as though the following tracks, with the exception of ‘Waiting all day’, which starts out sounding like a cool Eagles track just lose it a bit. They have their moments and some of the changes are just magical, but then at other times it feels like there are just an idea or two too many in some of the tracks, which for me, make it a bit difficult to listen to.

Daniel’s lyrics have never been a very strong point, and this release doesn’t really show that he’s turned a massive corner, but they are certainly better than anything that has come before. This might sound like a pay-out, but i actually like them for the most part. Also, special mention goes to Van Dyke Parks’ arrangements, almost brilliant. They pepper most tracks and you notice them at all the right times always putting a smile on your face.

I think that Straight Lines is actually the stand-out track on the album in terms of well rounded, concisevely executed tracks and overall it’s a pretty awesome feat of an album. I can totally respect the musicality and vision that has gone into making this album, but something about it just rubs me up the wrong way. It’s mostly due to the latter half of the album and i think that if there were twice as many tracks they could have all had their own uniqueness embelished, not to mention that the album clocks in at a puny 45 minutes.

All that being said, i can’t take the turn the thing off. Every spare chance i get i’m putting it on, on repeat, and on repeat for extended periods of time. I just can’t stop listening to it. I’m not always enjoying it, but the thing is far more addictive than anything that has come before it, and i suppose there has to be a fair bit of merit given to that. Maybe it’s cheapt to be catchy, but really, there is something to be said for an album that makes you not care about any other music in your library. Overall, i think it’s a great album that has been a bit hampered by putting a few too many good ideas into a few too few songs. Ultimately though they are good ideas, and well executed, even if thhey don’t always hang together perfectly. no doubt i’ll have the Young modern addiction for a good few weeks / months yet.